United went into this game already 2-1 down from the first leg at Drumahoe ten days earlier and so Roy Walker made two bold changes to his side bringing in Albert Watson and Kevin Kelbie for Aaron Stewart and Andy Smith to cope with the physical nature of Institute's tactics.

It took only 10 minutes for Ballymena's uphill task to get even harder when an uncharacteristic mistake from Lee Colligan allowed Declan Divin all the time in the world to drill a left-footed volley past Dwayne Nelson from 10 yards and put the visitors in the driving seat with an away goal.

The Braidmen began their onslaught on the Institute goal and out of nothing, the scores were level on 24 minutes when Michael Smith hit an outrageous effort from just inside the penalty area which flew over goalkeeper Gavin Cullen's head and into the top corner. This was Smith's fourth goal in five games as suddenly Ballymena were back in the tie.

Tempers threatened to spill over soon after when Darren Lockhart was booked for a challenge on Kevin Ramsey, which sparked a mass brawl between both sides which only resulted in goalscorer Divin getting penalised for the Londonderry side.

Just before the break, Lockhart looked to have put the Braidmen in front when he collected a superb through ball from Noel Anderson and slipped the ball under Cullen and into the net, but the linesman on the far side raised a late flag to deny the United veteran.

At the start of the second half, Nathan McConnell missed a gilt-edged chance for Ballymena early in the second half when Gavin Taggart's effort was parried only into the path of McConnell who lifted the ball over the goalkeeper but it rolled agonisingly wide of the post.

Returning captain Kevin Kelbie was next to go close when he tricked the sleeping Institute defence with a quick free-kick and drilled a stinging effort which clipped the outside of the far post and ran out to safety.

Walker threw on Andy Smith and Ormo Okunaiya in search of goals but after a barrage of the Institute goal, they found themselves behind with time running out. As Ryan Semple's cross was met by the unmarked Divin who drilled home to virtually end any lingering hope of a United comeback with seven minutes left.

The drama wasn't over yet as Chris Ramsey was brought down in the penalty area and referee Colin Burns awarded the Sky Blues a penalty. Kevin Kelbie confidently stepped up but fired his effort over the crossbar as United have now missed all three of their spot-kicks awarded this season.

"We had looked at this tie as a good chance to progress but we blew a golden opportunity," told manager Roy Walker.

"We maybe didn't do much in the first leg up there but tonight we simply missed too many chances – we aren't clinical enough in front of goal.

"I could list maybe seven decent chances we created but couldn't finish them and that is what cost us."

Picture: www.presseye.com | Videos: Andy Nelson (Sky Blue TV)

Teams:

BALLYMENA UNITED	INSTITUTE
1: NELSON, Dwayne	1: CULLEN, Gavin
2: SMITH, Michael	2: BOYLE, Ruari
3: COLLIGAN, Lee	3: HOLMES, Shaun
4: RAMSEY, Chris	4: SCOLTOCK, Mark
5: WATSON, Albert	5: McCLEAN, Ruari
6: SURGENOR, Mark	6: OGILBY, David
7: CUSHLEY, David	7: SEMPLE, Ryan
8: ANDERSON, Noel	8: FRIARS, Sean
9: McCONNELL, Nathan	9: RAMSEY, Kevin
10: KELBIE, Kevin (c)	10: BROWN, Paul
11: LOCKHART, Darren	11: DIVIN, Declan
Substitutes	-
12: SMITH, Andy	12: BLACKBURN, Jason
Replaced Nathan McConnell (61 mins)	Not Used
13: STEWART, Aaron	14: SEYDAK, Eamon
Not Used	Not Used
14: TAGGART, Gavin	15: LOWRY, Paul
Replaced Darren Lockhart (46 mins)	Replaced Paul Brown (56 mins)
15: OKUNAIYA, Ormon	16: WRAY, Thomas
Replaced David Cushley (61 mins)	Not Used
16: CARSON, Philip	17: BONNAR, Thomas
Not Used	Not Used
Yellow Cards:	-
Unknown	Unknown
Red Cards:	-
None	None